Baumbach & Bahrani, Polley & Potter Atop Telluride’s Secret Roster

An end of summer ritual for cinephiles materializes this afternoon in the mountains of Colorado as the secret lineup for the Telluride Film Festival is revealed, just as moviegoers arrive in the rustic town for this weekend's festival. Its the 39th annual edition of a festival called "The Show" by its devoted, even fanatical, attendees. The event has achieved cult-like status within American cinema culture for its selective and eclectic mix of both new and classic movies.

Meanwhile, attendees will have a chance to experience an array of older films and unearthed classics all weekend. Festival guest director Geoff Dyer has selected Claire Denis' Beau Travail, Lukas Moodysson's Together and Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker for his section, while the festival will also revisit a pair of Werner Herzog films, Lessons of Darkness (1992) and The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974).

Chatting about the lineup a few days ago, one of the festival directors Gary Meyer tipped Raymond Griffith's Hands Up as a must-see for the weekend. A silent film by a little-known director, the movie is described as a Civil War parody and was a hit at the recent Pordenone silent film fest in Italy. Meyer said he'd been hoping for years to find a way to screen the film at the festival because it is one of the few complete surviving films by Griffith. He's also excited about The Marvelous Life of Joan of Arc, another silent film (by Marco de Gastyne) that's not available on DVD. Festival organizers had to hunt to score this one. They found a multi-part version of the movie on YouTube and were able to do a bit of detective work to source a print and construct subtitles for this weekend's screening.

Telluride will tribute European actors Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) and Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt), as well as legendary American director, producer and distributor Roger Corman.

Sadly, the festival will also salute two cinephiles who died this year. The 39th edition of the Telluride Film Festival is dedicated to the late Bingham Ray, a fest fixture and Telluride fan who passed away earlier this year, as well as Australian filmmaker Jan Sharp. Their absences will be apparent as attendees immerse themselves in movies this weekend.

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